Among Titans (Titanfall)
by Kruger v2521
Summary: Joseph Till, Ex-IMC officer was a veteran of previous war before retiring to the Frontier. Now, a war has broken out between a faction protecting his one and a military he allied with.


The sounds of multiple heavy boots hitting the mixture of mud and rock below them as the numerous amount of Pilots touched down.

Pilots. The heavy hitters of any military function. Heavily trained and augmented, Pilots were the future of warfare. Their immense strength and speed were already of note, but their ability to use Titans to their full effectiveness was remarkable.

Joesph was a Pilot, fighting under the Frontier Militia: a rag-tag group of mercenaries, pirates, civilians and mercenaries all bound together by the desire to maintain their freedoms far away from Earth.

This battle had been fought with minor troops and squads until a few days prior, Militia soldiers were soon being wiped out by IMC Pilots. But not average Pilots, they were trained, hardened, and loyal. Perfect and deadly cogs in the machine. One squad was able to take on three of the Milita's best Pilots.

These were the IMC Vanguards, sent in as a heavy handed message that the Militia was out-classed. Their job was to slaughter the soldiers who opposed them, no matter how numerous. But, they left survivors. They _always_ left survivors.

The Pilots all around Joesph didn't know what they were getting into yet. They had no clue of the suicide mission they were given. But Joesph knew, because he had seen this before. He had done this before. He was an IMC Vanguard squad leader not too long ago.

Joesph, a veteran of the oppressive and heavy-handed IMC, was fighting men and women he once swore loyalty to. But he was here in the Frontier on early retirement for a reason. The IMC would not take that from him too.

The field Joesph ran in was perfect for slaughtering the Pilots before they even began. A large, half destroyed building the perfect perch. Luckily, that situation never rose, but the IMC most likely saw the drop ships. They were ready for the real fight to begin.

The destroyed building was large and multileveled, so it was Joesph's first choice to clear and place troops into. Many Pilots ran deeper into the field, no cover, hardly any change and ground other than a few large rocks and a dip on the other side of the field. Off against the high rock wall the closed off the battleground was a small hill that could be used to pick soldiers and Pilots alike. It seemed about half of the snipers went there, and the other half was in the same state of mind as Joesph.

Joesph built up his speed, turning his already fast run into an all-out sprint before jumping as high as he could, slamming his chest into a ledge as he grab onto it and pulled himself up. It was the loudest noise among the silence of anticipating guns. He lifted his rife, the well rounded R-101C Carbine. He checked the magazine, 40 rounds inside. Joesph readied the weapon and raised it above his head as he heard the clank of footsteps on concrete from the friendly Pilots running parallel in the floor below him.

An obviously cautious and worried IMC grunt walked through the door in front of Joesph, gun pointed up into the air. His white, shiny armor stuck out in the brown and green environment around them. The worn green armor Joesph wore was just his painted IMC assault armor, so the color and the different style helmet confused the grunt long enough for Joesph to adjust his aim and put a single bullet in his head, breaking the eerie silence the battlefield had.

Once his shot was fired, bullets flew all around outside. And it would stay that way until the fight was finished.

"WHOA! WHOA!" Another IMC Grunt shouted as he looked as his dead comrade from behind a wall in front of Joesph.

The Pilot ran as fast as he could and slammed his back into that very wall and readied a grenade. The door next to Joesph was on a corner of the next room, the wall that made up the side of the building just around the corner. Joesph's grenade, now accurately cooked, was tossed in the direction of that wall, bouncing off and rolling towards whoever was on the other side.

The grenade exploded, sending the painful moan of at least four men into the air. As Joesph turned the corner, he saw one unharmed man who's eyes had been damaged by the flash of the grenade, his arm covering them as he screamed.

Joesph aimed for much less than a second and fired, another bullet in the forehead. As the Pilot examined the room, he saw the four men on the floor with missing limbs writhing in pain. As he walked through, Joesph put a bullet in each of their heads and fired bullets in mercy. Gory and painful was no way to go out.

The room was almost a small hallway, half of it caved in roof next to a set of stairs, and the end of it blown off, exposing a two story drop and a view of the rest of the battlefield.

Joesph took a moment to survey his surroundings, making sure to stay obscure in case there are snipers about. As he looked around, gun in hand, Joesph saw exactly what he knew he would: Pilots and Titans moving up, exited to face the freshly dropped Militia super-soldiers.

Suddenly, gunfire came soaring at Joesph, who reacted just soon enough to only take a bullet or two from a small caliber round before falling to the floor on his back. The rapid fire suggested a Compact SMG from the building below and across the dirt road from Joesph's.

The shot but uninjured Joesph was forced to just lay there, rifle aimed at the most likely point of entry: the huge-ass hole just feet in front of him.

There was the sound of a thruster shooting off, meaning a Pilot was going for a larger jump. He was coming up here where where his SMG had the advantage of close quarters.

However, the IMC Pilot, who was female, came hurtling through the window absent of glass, landing just to the right of Joesph's head.

He boot came up above Joesph, who rolled away from the attack, dropping his cumbersome gun in the process. The female Pilot carelessly lowered her guard and raised her SMG with one hand, as if the fight was already won while Joesph was still getting to his feet.

Thinking quickly, Joesph activated his thruster boost, sending him straight into the female Pilot's torso and slamming her into the wall behind her.

Face to face and almost _too_ close quarters, Joesph took half a step back and raised his left arm. The Female Pilot, shocked by the sudden retaliation, brough back her arm to try and shoot Joesph again, but his left arm swatted hers away while his right came up with a knife straight into the side of her neck and between her vertebra, blood spilling out quickly.

She stopped suddenly, her arm twitching slightly before Joesph twisted the blade, severing the spine. With that, she fell limp, the blood stopping as the heart stopped pumping.

Joesph took a step back and a deep breath, looking at the Female Pilot's CQB style armor and her pale skinned, lifeless face. But, more importantly, the lack of a Vanguard emblem on her breastplate.

"... Jesus. A rookie... Sarah, I've got one confirmed Pilot kill. How're we doing in this so far?" Joesph asked, pressing his finger against the side of his helmet while he sat down behind substantial cover.

"It's looking good, Joe. We've got seven confirmed IMC Pilots down and only one of our Pilots down. Why?" The woman on the intercom replied informally.

"Damn... Just tell all units to stay tight and be ready for when they stop sending in the fodder Pilots. Joesph out." Joesph said as he disconnected the communication, lowering his fingers.

After he picked his rifle up off the floor, Joesph casually walked to the other side of the room. As he did so, two sniper Pilots came up the stairs, checked his colors and friendly tag for a second, and climbed up to the vantage point on the top of the building.

Joesph turned around and crouched when he reached the wall. He inhaled slowly and exhaled sharply before taking off in a dead sprint towards the hole in the wall and jumping as far forward as he could, landing on the single-floored building across the road from the building he was just in.

_This is where the Female Pilot came from. There might be someone here._ Joesph thought to himself as he stood upright from the landing.

Joesph observed a large explosion hole in a nearby section of roof. He headed towards in and peered down. Four IMC grunts and one Pilot who seemed to fire wildly at the Militia troops moving up in the field too far for his rifle to be accurate. Another rookie. From what he could see. Considering the tight conditions, Joesph placed his rifle on his back and took out his trusted Wingman, a high caliber revolver he's used since he could remember.

The action was quick. Too quick for the IMC Grunts to react and fire their weapons. Joesph dropped down and shot all four of the with his revolver within three seconds and turned. The distracted IMC Pilot couldn't turn fast enough to dodge the boot to the back of the head that knocked him down.

"Ah!" He cried as he fell over and began scrambling to get upright. Joesph kicked the gun out of his hand and away from the Pilot before he could use it. Joesph placed his Wingman against the Pilot's head and fired.

Joesph wiped the blood off of his helmet and stopped dead still at the sound of the clicking from arming a handgun.

"Don't blame yourself. I am very good at what I do." The voice from behind him, most likely a Pilot, said with a deal of pride.

"Why haven't you killed me yet, then." Joesph asked in response, in a way challenging the other Pilot's decision making skills.

"... Because I have a question to ask. Your armor... Are you a IMC defector? Because, you do not move like the rest of these savages." The Pilot gave pause from a light chuckle before speaking.

"I'm retired." Joesph paused, placing both hands on his head and pressing his thumb against the communication line with Sarah just in case this didn't work: "Now my question. Are you a Vanguard?"

"Yes." The Vanguard Pilot said, plainly.

"How many squads are there here?" Joesph continued questioning.

"Enough to take out four of your platoons on average, maybe more." The Vanguard was obviously finished talking. He pressed the gun forward, lightly tapping Joesph's helmet as he did so.

With that, Joesph knew he was close enough. He spun around, using his lifted elbow to knock away the handgun, and get in a quick butt with his revolver before both Pilots stepped back and drew on each other. The Vanguard seemed to think they were at a stand-off, but Joesph shot him in the chest, knocking the Vanguard backwards from the blow.

Joesph used that to get in close and punch him right on the bullet wound, the pain causing the Vanguard to drop his weapon while Joesph drew his rifle and lined up a headshot.

The Vanguard panicked as he backed up from Joesph: "Wait! I can help-" Joesph fired the gun just too late. The roof just seemed to cave in right in front of him, knocking backwards and through the wall.

Now bleeding from prior shallow wounds, Joesph crawled to his feet, groaning in pain as he found himself outside the building he just flew out of, an IMC Titan replacing his past position. The Atlas-class Titan aimed it's huge weapon at Joesph and almost fired, but the Vanguard Pilot began to crawl inside of it, clutching his bullet wound in his chest.

"Sarah... Sarah! Requesting Titanfall on my position, NOW!" Joesph pleaded onto the communications line quickly as he began to run back behind behind some old, abandoned fuel tank.

"NOW TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF THE IMC YOU ABANDONED, REBEL!" The Vanguard's voiced boomed from inside the Titan as it fired it's machine gun at the fleeing Joesph.

As Joesph serpentined onward, his progress was suddenly halted by one of the enormous Titan machine gun rounds grazing his leg, scraping against his bone as he fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

The Vanguard Pilot stopped shooting when he saw Joesph fall and slowly stepped up to the now crawling Militia Pilot. He was going to step on him and wipe him off his Titan's boot like dog shit.

Joesph pulled out his Sidewinder, rapid fire mini-rocket Anti-Titan weapon and fired a few rounds before it seemed to jam. It didn't even break his shields. He was doomed.

"DASH-CORE!" A exited, bombastic voice shouted as a Militia Strider-Titan jump-punched the Vanguard's Titan to the floor just in front of the still crawling Joesph.

"I'll show you the rage of us SMALL-FOLK from the planet FUCK YOU!" The Pilot cried out again as the Vanguard Titan returned to it's feet, ready to do battle.


End file.
